New Dating App Values Brains Over Beauty

Online dating is so predictable, am I right? I had Tinder for like a week and I was thoroughly unimpressed. My day to day on Tinder was something like, “swipe left, swipe left, swipe left, OH swipe right.” And then it was time to receive a completely unoriginal message and be forced to have an awkward conversation like, “Oh we both swiped right, haha this app is weird. Hahah I never do this I swear, haha.” And it’s strained and awkward.

Well the newest dating app on the market, Willow, basically is the opposite of Tinder. Instead of swiping left or right based on images, Willow beings their matchmaking through faceless questions. So basically instead of choosing pictures to display, you can write three questions. Willow then takes the batch of questions from people in your area and presents them to a user. For example if I was looking for males around me ages 18-24, it would take their questions and show me them like Tinder would with pictures. Then you can swipe left if a question is weird, boring or annoying and swipe right to answer the question. All of this is done without ever seeing the person you’re talking to.

I think this is great. Although you might be disappointed when you realize your witty banter has been with someone you thought was a George Clooney look-a-like it actually helps people have genuine conversations via the internet, not just like “You’re hot.”

Michelle Buch, the 23-year-old founder of the app said she decided to create Willow when she was attending a guest lecture at NYU.

“What I realized was missing from a dating app, or an app that is meant to be social, was an actual conversational aspect,” said 23-year-old Willow founder Michael Bruch. “I wanted to create an app that got people talking.”

This is like the cooler hipster cousin of Tinder and we are totally on board. Do you think that it’s more or less weird to get to know someone via Willow or do you prefer Tinder for your dating app needs? Let us know!
[Image via Bevan Goldswain/Shutterstock]